Valfaris: Mecha Therion

At the time of writing this I have 15 hours played. I've finished all of this developer's previous games and in my opinion each game is an improvement from the last. I love this game and I thought I wouldn't since I don't usually enjoy shoot em ups but I had to try since I had a good time in their other titles. Give it a shot even if you don't enjoy shmups you might be surprised.

I loved the first game in the series. The developer took a big risk changing the genre of the sequel, but it worked out incredibly! This is another awesome entry in the Valfaris series. The visual design is so strong, it has to be my favorite part of this series. Highly recommended!

I got this thinking the gameplay was just a direct continuation of the original Valfaris (that's on me), but what I ended up with was a fun bullethell that works within the same world and I'm good with that. It's a good time.

Very fun game, and has good replayability. I still kinda wish that Valfaris had a sequel that was more faithful to its original gameplay, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it ended up being.

The change in genre was definitely the right call here; because this game ROCKS.
Shmups are one of my favorite genres of gaming when I just want to sit down and blast stuff that's in my way, and this game excels at that here. Fast paced action, tough enemies and great bosses that will test your knowledge of these kinds of games (and the fact that there's still a bit of exploration even with the genre shift is amazing).
The visuals are gorgeous; colorful and perfectly emulating the style of the late 90s low poly PC games that came out at that time; adding A LOT of charm to this one. This combined with the Soundtrack being PURE metal just like in the first game but even BETTER IMO it just makes the experience even more enjoyable.
If I had to pick a couple of negatives with this game it would be that sometimes it's a bit hard to see what's hitting you before you die and have to go back to your last checkpoint. And that the story (just like the last game) is nothing special (it works but it's not the main focus). Other than that, I have no other complaints to list.
If you love shmups and already enjoyed the first game, please play this. It's a game with a lot of love and passion behind it that deserves your time and money.
Final Score: 9/10.

Pleasent surprise because I did not expect the switch to 3D, but ingame it looks beautiful. Some challenge but not too bad. Only complaint would be some places where the camera was a bit hard to follow but overall very good game.

Likes
-AMAZING graphics.
-Music is cool, more rockin' than the first Valfaris. I think I prefer the more low key almost ambient metal of the first game, but this is cool too.
-Meleeing projectiles is fun and offers a good defensive option.
-Bosses are big and awesome again.
-Finding secrets fun. There's no wandering around exploration, you just hit a little side path, grab the secret and come right back. That's good.
-Slightly less weapons than the first game, easier to upgrade weapons.
-I know its a different genre, but the mechanics were simplified from Valfaris 1, and I like that.
Criticism
-I don't like meleeing to regain my ammo. Limited ammo in a shmup is limiting my fun. Me simple gamer. Me want hold fire button entire game. Forcing me to balance melee and shooting causes a weird mechanic of memorizing which enemies to melee and when to save ammo, or getting right in the face of a boss and meleeing until you regain some ammo.
-Just like the Valfaris 1 there is a visibility problem (probably exacerbated by my colorblindness.) I noticed the warm backgrounds were worse for me, then suddenly it changed to cool colors and it was much easier to see. Many projectiles and explosions all at once add to this. But just like I felt about the first game, visibility is going to be a problem in a game like this that refuses compromise and tone down all the graphical splendor. And that's ok, i would prefer they make the graphics as insane and cool as possible. But it should be noted that if you have colorblindness you will be handicapped in both Valfaris games.
-I don't like easy mode. I like the Valfaris 1 system of having 1 difficultly then increasing the difficulty for the second playthrough. Much more satisfaction upon completion, and much more incentive to actually play it a second time. And yes I played on easy mode and now I feel like less of a gamer. But it's the game's fault for giving me the option.
-Overall I had fun. I don't have fun with many modern games. Its not really a pure shmup, maybe like an action/shmup. Would be cool to get a Valfaris 3 that transitions between the run and gun platforming of the first game and the action shmupping of this game.